[nycbug-talk] BSD on the <$100 laptop?

[Marc Spitzer]

On 4/9/06, Isaac Levy <ike at lesmuug.org> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
>  From Slashdot, then Cnet there was this post about Linux being unfit
> for the'Laptop Per Child' project:
> Negroponte: Slimmer Linux needed for $100 laptop
>
> http://news.com.com/Negroponte+Slimmer+Linux+needed+for+100+laptop/
> 2100-7346_3-6057456.html?tag=nefd.lede
> -or-
> http://tinyurl.com/ns3rr
>
> "People aren't thinking about small, fast, thin systems," said
> Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit
> association, in a speech at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo here.
> "Suddenly it's like a very fat person (who) uses most of the energy
> to move the fat. And Linux is no exception. Linux has gotten fat, too."
>
> --
> That stated, if anyone is clost to Negroponte or the MIT scene, could
> you email them and point them to us to talk about all the fabulous
> BSD solutions? (mostly the stripped-down *BSD installs running
> embedded hardware etc...)
>
> To name a few,
>
> PicoBSD (FreeBSD base)
> http://people.freebsd.org/~picobsd/picobsd.html
>
> m0n0wall and m0n0bsd, (FreeBSD 4.x based, aimed at Soekris/WRAP
> embedded)
> http://m0n0.ch/

actually NetBSD might be a better fit:
1: easier to port, from what I have read
2: binary package installer, including updates, for the base system and kernel
3: it is so easy to strip down there are no after market distros to
make it small

>
> Flashdist (OpenBSD ULTRA-minimal installer)
> http://www.nmedia.net/~chris/soekris/
>
> etc... etc...
>
> I bet many of us on list could get a functional desktop/windowing
> enviornment setup over a weekend of work- using one of the micro
> machines from the MIT project?

as long as there are no driver/kernel issues I do not see why not.

marc
>
> :)
>
> --
> More about this project:
>
> http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,69615-0.html?tw=wn_politics_6
>
>
> --
>
> Rocket,
> .ike
>
>
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